


The Social Life of Alligators

by stefrobrts



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Episode: s03e22 Quagmire, F/M, Vignette, post episode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-02
Updated: 2015-11-02
Packaged: 2018-04-29 13:33:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5129498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stefrobrts/pseuds/stefrobrts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just a post-episode vignette for one of my favorites - Quagmire.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Social Life of Alligators

**Author's Note:**

> This was the first episode I watched first-run and it instantly hooked me into watching the rest of the series. On the re-watch, nearly twenty years later, I suddenly felt like writing a tiny epilogue for it. This was just a little warm up before hitting the big stories. It's good to stretch before you engage in any heavy lifting! Enjoy!

After a couple quick knocks, Scully opened the door of the 'campin' cabin', her little head tilt to the side asking the question without her having to ask it at all. Mulder nodded, "Can't sleep, want to talk?" She stepped back and opened the door enough for him to slip in, then closed it behind him. 

"I was already in bed, Mulder." Her satin pajamas and bare feet seemed to corroborate her story.

"Sorry, but I was reading some fascinating stuff about alligators. I'm too wound up to sleep."

"Fine, but I'm going back to bed. If it's not exciting enough to keep me awake, it's your problem." She returned to the double bed where the covers were turned back and crawled back under them, pulling them up to her chin.

"I was reading about alligators, I think they are going to find something interesting when they have a chance to closely examine the one I shot tonight. Primarily that alligators simply don't get that large. I think this might have been an example of an alligator superspecies that has been thought to be extinct for thousands of years." He kicked off his shoes and sat on the other side of the bed. 

"So you get your plesiosaur, but in alligator form?" Scully asked from under the blanket. 

"In a way. Maybe that species has found a niche here in the lake where they were able to survive and thrive. Alligators tend to be shy and will avoid humans, not consider them prey, so a change in the ecosystem seems to have predicated this recent series of attacks. Maybe it has a nest somewhere."

She pulled the blankets down a little so he could see her face. Her expression landed somewhere between annoyed and concerned. "You aren't going to go looking for a nest tomorrow?"

"No, " he chuckled, "I'll leave that to the state biologists." 

He stretched out on the bed, laced his fingers behind his head and stared up at the cedar-lined ceiling. "It's quite a thought though, an otherwise extinct species, hidden away in the unexplored corners of the lake, peacefully living out it's days, generation after generation." He glanced to his left and saw her eyes had drifted closed. As he watched she sleepily licked her lips, her tongue barely visible for an instant. He tossed ideas around in his head.

"Scully, how come you never go on dates anymore?"

"What?" That had woke her up.

"When we first started working together, you went on dates occasionally, but you haven't gone on any for a long time."

She halfway sat up and glared at him. "The first free weekend we've had in months, and you drag me out to look for the loch ness monster, and then ask me why I'm not keeping up my social calendar in my free time?" She settled back onto her pillow. "Seriously, Mulder?"

"I was just thinking," he offered, "I mean, you want that someday, don't you? The house in the suburbs, the picket fence. Two point five kids and a do... Sorry."

"Hmph."

"Alligators have so little to think about. They just eat and breed and hatch out little independent alligators. Not so much planning involved." He stared up at the ceiling again. "I mean if you think about it, all the effort we have to put into the whole process, it's a miracle any of us make it."

After a moment she spoke again, her voice softer. "Well, it's not supposed to be work, Mulder, it's supposed to be fun, but we have so little time to ourselves outside of work. If I did find someone I would have to be available to him, take time to get to know him, and then have another person worrying about me, keeping in touch while I'm out on assignments..." She stretched and pulled an arm out from under the covers, smoothing out the blanket in the space between them, sleepily picking at the fuzz. "It takes some effort, that's all."

Mulder stretched and let his hand fall to his side, landing in the neutral zone between them. His thoughts had already tumbled into a dark pit. He could suddenly imagine the kind of guy Scully would have; a doctor maybe, someone who wouldn't be put off by her work in forensics. Probably not another agent. Who needs that kind of worry, and double the difficulty of spending time together? No, he was picturing a professional man, well educated. He could see this stranger greeting him at the door of Scully's apartment, seeing her off with a kiss as they left on yet another assignment with a friendly 'Take care of her' tinged with warning. This stranger would be sitting by her hosiptal bed with her Mom when things went badly, while Mulder himself was limited to an awkward shadow in the background. He imagined her cutting dinners short while they were on the road to head back to the hotel to chat with this stranger before his east-coast bedtime. Instead of stakeouts where a long dark night would pass in their usual peaceable silence, Mulder would have to cringe through listening to one-sided small talk, little giggles and a quick 'I love you' before hanging up. His heart locked up a bit at that last thought. He knew she deserved it, deserved all that, just as surely as he knew it would happen someday.

Then he felt her fingers drift gently over his in the space between them on the bed, and settle softly into the palm of his hand. He folded his hand around hers, wondering if she would pull away. 

"I'm in no hurry, Mulder, I'm content with my life the way it is right now."

He felt his heart thumping in his chest and stared at the ceiling, hoping she couldn't hear it. He glanced over and saw that her eyes were closed again. He hesitated a moment longer, then realized her hand had gone limp in his. She was asleep. He gently got up off the bed and found his shoes, and left, locking the door behind him.


End file.
